


dreamfasting.

by atlesianic



Category: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Dreamfasting, Original Character(s), Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:20:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27117400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlesianic/pseuds/atlesianic
Summary: they've always wondered if skeksis possess the same ability.I DO NOT CONSENT TO THE REPOSTING OF MY WORKS.
Relationships: Original Gelfling Character/Original Skeksis Character, Orignal Character/Original Character, skekLao the Architect/Taelin the Assistant
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	dreamfasting.

**Author's Note:**

> meet some TDC OCs! taelin (they/them) belongs to outsidermonster/maelwyth on tumblr, and skekLao (he/him) belongs to me! there will eventually be a much longer, multi-chapter story with their entire romance here, but for now, enjoy!

to say life has gotten strange in the last trine or so would be an understatement. most gelfling can’t boast a skeksis title, nor a place at the table in the castle of the crystal, nor a first-name basis with the skeksis who created the castle in the first place. 

and certainly, not a single one of them can boast that they’ve slept in the same bed as one of the lords for almost an entire trine.

skekLao is a peculiar creature, different from his fellow lords. he’s among the few of them who decided castle life just wasn’t going to work out, but unlike skekSa and skekMal, who left looking for adventure and self-discovery, skekLao left for artistry and greed. life as the royal architect, he claims, can be hectic, but taelin has come to the conclusion that’s simply so eccentric that everything he does must be extravagant. no wonder when they visit the castle he and skekEkt get along so well.

skekLao came across taelin by chance when he visited har’ar. he’d been determined to find an assistant who could be his intellectual equal (or as he’s put it to the all-maudra, “as much as a gelfling can be to their lord.”) he’d arrived, heralded by castle guards, in ink-stained robes and trailing crumpled up piece of parchment behind him as he struggled to sketch out the parts of the citadel that caught his eye as he walked past, and demanded the all-maudra summon her best architects.

not one of them passed his inspection.

he was in har’ar for a week, rejecting gelfling after gelfling. artists, architects, scribes, paladins. it didn’t take long for there to be a line of willing gelfling from all walks of life outside his cramped but lavish chambers. had one of the long-suffering paladins not dropped an armful of parchment paper into taelin’s arms as they passed, they never would have met him. 

“i’m done running around! there are other paladins who can do this! take those to the lord while i go--i don’t know, try to convince someone to help me!”

that was all it took. a paladin’s aching feet from being sent back and forth to skekLao’s chambers and the lord in question’s constant need for fresh paper and ink. when someone saw a mine worker entering the architect’s chambers, they’d called for help, and when the all-maudra heard them spit harsh names and obscenities back at her esteemed guest, she’d threatened to lock them away.

until he laughed.

taelin pulls their knees to their chest as they watch him sleep next to them, their mind racing as they once again try to figure just what made them so special that they’re sharing a bed with one of the lords of the crystal. 

it’s nothing intimate. neither taelin nor skekLao would ever dream of it. the new carriage is still being constructed back at the castle, and according to skekLao, this one took three trine to make. taelin isn’t even sure if it’s actually being built, but they don’t mind too much. it’s not like they need as much space as skekLao does.

their shared living space is an enormous live-in carriage, an oddly shaped thing sat atop a set of six armaligs that skekLao made sure were well-trained enough to get him from one place to another without much trouble. inside, it’s warm, with plenty of orange light and comfortably cramped. skekLao called it cozy. everything is in one shared space, save a bathroom, which is sectioned off by heavy curtain in the far corner of the carriage. it’s not exactly fancy, just a seat with a hole in the floor and a showerhead that uses filtered rainwater to wash someone off.

the kitchen is one of taelin’s favorite things about the carriage. because they’re constantly moving, everything in the kitchen must be held down so it won’t fall over and cause a fire or an oil slick. the floor there is actually a grate that leads to the armaligs’ food source, and powerful magnets are set into the metal countertops and the bottoms of all the utensils and pots and pans to keep them from moving. the dishes in the cabinet are strapped into place, and must be removed carefully so as not to break anything, and the food itself is stored in an icebox nailed to the floor. skekTek seemed pleased with his work here specifically, though skekLao seemed most pleased with his workstation.

after all, that is where he spends most of his time, perched upon an ornate stool and bent over his drafting table as he scribbles away at blueprint after blueprint. the ceiling is covered in lights and scrolls, finished designs that he hangs with silk ribbon when they’re finished. taelin can’t tell skekEkt’s new bedroom from the redesign of the conqueror’s memorial, but skekLao could navigate the dangling scrolls with his eyes closed. 

and then the bed. a soft mattress tucked into the corner of the room, separated but not closed off by gossamer webbing that softens the light around them. books cover taelin’s side of the bed, and strangely enough, only a glass of water resides on skekLao’s side. they’ve never understood how he can be so cluttered and so clean all at once.

they like to watch him sleep. no one in hundreds of trine has gotten the chance to observe a skeksis outside of battle or a political discussion. taelin always feels like they’ll be caught by someone while they watch him, even though skekLao himself has never shown any issue with it. 

he’s thinner than the other skeksis. they assume that the others who don’t live full-time in the castle are the same, as they don’t feast on the gourmand’s extravagant dinners every night, but they’ve noticed that even when visiting and when he has access to all that food, skekLao hardly touches it. 

and for the record, skeksis do not have scales. when they were little, taelin’s mother called the skeksis “great lizards.” it made them seem less like lords taelin was meant to serve and more like mythical creatures for taelin to daydream about. but they’ve looked multiple times now as skekLao slept next to them, and they can say with confidence that skeksis do not have scales. their skin is soft, like worn leather, and lacks the thin layer of fur that gelfling have along their bodies. they have both feathers and hair, however. feathers have a tendency to stick out from the points on their bodies that bend, probably some evolutionary tactic to make themselves look scarier if they’re threatened (though taelin can’t imagine what might threaten a skeksis), and along their backs like quills. their hair seems to grow almost exclusively above the neck as well. hair on top of their heads, wisps of it along the underside of their beaks. taelin has observed a few of the other lords looking at the mess of greying black hair atop skekLao’s head with envy. maybe it’s something to do with the fresh air.

and when they breathe, they make such funny noises. chittering and sighing, like birds as they fly away from a threat in the woods. the feathers on their backs shudder and their eyelashes twitch. 

_ i may as well be an anthropologist now _ , taelin thinks, only just now realizing their arm is going numb from leaning on it to watch skekLao. as they lean back to stretch their shoulder a bit, skekLao makes a soft whining noise and turns a bit in his sleep, his hand resting just against taelin’s hip as he settles once more. 

skeksis’ hands are beautiful. taelin has always thought so. the first skeksis they ever met was the ritual master at their first tithing ceremony. he’d smiled seeing such a little thing approach him in line and bent at the waist to meet their gaze. “a gelfling’s first tithing is an important day.” he’d said. taelin was terrified of him, icy blue eyes boring into their skull and sharp teeth glinting in the light of the citadel. their mother nudged their shoulder and whispered something about giving him the tithe, and taelin held out the scroll which announced that a great amount of vapran gemstones and ore from their mines was being delivered to the skeksis’ carriage. 

when the ritual master (taelin learned only in this past trine that his name is skekZok, and he is far less kind to his brethren) held out his hand to take the paper, taelin couldn’t help themselves. they took his hand, withholding the paper for a moment, and traced their little fingers along the grooves of his palm. their mother had been mortified, but he’d laughed it off and taken the paper, withdrawing his hand all too quickly to read the scroll aloud and accept the tithe. taelin was sent away with a pat on the head, noting that skekZok’s hand was so big he could have relaxed his fingers and covered their entire skull.

hands are important to gelfling. it’s how they connect with each other, how they dreamfast. palm to palm, they share their deepest thoughts and memories, every desire and every fear. skekLao’s hands are calloused and stained, his nails black from dipping them in ink to scrawl across paper. taelin’s are as well, calloused from mining and stained from the stone. 

can skeksis dreamfast?

mother aughra can dreamfast, they know that. and some animals can as well. can the skeksis? do they dreamfast with each other when they return from their tithings? they reach over and place their palm on top of skekLao’s. what would he be dreaming about? his next project, certainly. or maybe his peculiar family back at the castle. maybe one of the other wandering skeksis; is there one of them he enjoys meeting out here more than the others? would he be dreaming of someone he loves?

“what in thra’s name are you doing…?” comes a groggy voice. taelin jerks their hand back when they see skekLao’s glowing purple eyes in the dim light, their cheeks quickly turning pink from embarrassment. 

“nothing, my lord!” they protest. “i’m sorry, i--”

“ugh, are we back to the ‘my lord’ mess?” he grumbles, turning over in bed to sit up and stretch. the quill-like feathers on his back twitch again as he does, and he runs his ink-stained claws through his hair with a sigh. “well, i suppose i’m awake--”

“can you dreamfast?” taelin interrupts quickly. “i’ve always wondered if you can, and nothing in any books i’ve read or heard about says if you can or not.”

“skeksis don’t need to dreamfast, taelin.” skekLao scoffs. but that’s not what they asked, and he knows it. “we’re perfectly capable of talking to one another just fine.” he can’t imagine the awful things he’d see if he dreamfasted with one of the other lords. he shudders to think of what skekMal might hold as his fondest memory, and he hardly wants to see skekLach’s morning routine with her deteriorating physical state.

“i’ll pretend that wasn’t an insult and try again. can you dreamfast?” taelin asks, glaring at skekLao as he picks up his glass of water and finishes it off. 

he rolls his eyes as he moves to the mannequin holding his robes, ornate but worn out, and starts to dress himself. “i don’t know, gelfling. like i said, we don’t have a need for it, so if we can, we’ve never tried.” he finally admits. he pulls a shift over his head, the ruffles bouncing as they settle against his legs. “why do you suddenly care so much about this? you’ve not once brought this up in a whole trine with me.”

“dreamfasting is important for gelfling.” they explain, hopping off the bed that is far too high for them and moving to the shelf near skekLao’s mannequin to dress themselves as well. “it’s… intimate. it’s how we share our feelings and our love. it’s how we tell stories, how we learn, how we govern. it’s why we have so few criminals.” they discard their night shirt and pull their tunic on. “i wanted to--”

“to dreamfast with me?!” skekLao finishes, a grin spread across his face as he ties the front of his faded red robe shut. “HAH! you couldn’t even begin to understand the memories of the skeksis! we have lived--”

“for nearly a thousand trine, i know. i got this speech the last three times we went to the castle.” they make a little noise as they hop in place to pull their pants on. “if you’re too scared, then fine, i can just ask someone else the next time we go--” they’re smiling as they say it, knowing no skeksis can pass up a challenge.

“well, fine! if you’re going to be a brat about it, then we’ll attempt it.” skekLao mutters, locking the cage along his back into place. “sit down!”

taelin has to keep from giggling as they move to one of the stools in the kitchen, climbing up to take a seat while skekLao grumbles to himself. as the architect finishes dressing himself, taelin takes to tying their hair up for the day, and by the time they’re joined, the two of them are presentable.

skekLao holds out his hand first, a brow raised indignantly as if this is beneath him. taelin grins as they hold out theirs, but for some reason they find themselves hesitating. 

after meeting skekZok in person, taelin realized that the skeksis, while significantly larger than gelfling, seemed much bigger when they were a childling. they’d always thought that the ritual master was at least ten feet tall, but upon meeting him, he was only a couple of feet above taelin’s head. maybe not even that. 

but skekLao’s hands are still so much larger.

before they can speak, the architect breaks the silence. his voice is soft, almost astonished, as he whispers, “your hands are… so small.” 

they don’t even realize it, but just as he says it, taelin whispers with him, “...so big.”

they lock eyes for a moment, a bit surprised that they spoke in unison like that, and taelin swears the ruffles at skekLao’s neck fluff up a bit in embarrassment. finally, they reach forward and curl their fingers around his, letting out an involuntary shiver at just how much they have to stretch their hand open to do so.

they close their eyes as they feel his claws curl around their hand, take a deep breath--and they’re met with nothing. there’s a soft hum in the back of their head that tells them they’re ready to enter the dream space, but it’s just not happening. they crack open an eye to peer up at skekLao, whose eyes are closed; he’s trying. 

“nothing’s happening.” he notes softly, not wanting to disturb the calm they’ve created. “are you doing it right?” taelin doesn’t respond for a moment, watching his brow furrow as if trying harder to make this work. their shoulders fall a bit and they pull their hand back. skekLao looks disappointed when they do.

“i suppose… skeksis and gelfling can’t dreamfast with one another.” they conclude.

“i suppose not.” he agrees, flexing his fingers a bit. “...what would you have shown me?”

taelin is a bit surprised by the question, and for some reason the words almost die in their throat before they speak, telling him the story of meeting skekZok for the first time. they explain as well that this is what brought about the question in the first place. skekLao laughs. “you’ll have to tell him that the next time we see him. it’ll do wonders for his ego.”

through his continued laughter, taelin asks, “what about you?”

“hm?”

“what would you have shown me?”

skekLao blanches at that. what would he have shown them? there are secrets gelfling cannot know, ones that they’ve taken great care to keep hidden away. would his mind have wandered too much? he can’t imagine what would have happened if he’d shown them raunip, or the crystal cracking, or even something he saw as trivial such as skekShod on the floor of the castle, bleeding and twitching as skekSo stood over him and roared at the rest of them. he couldn’t have even shown them the building of the castle. that was another life, wasn’t it? stone sung up from the ground. 

“...my titling ceremony.” he finally answers. 

“what’s that?” they ask, and he laughs a bit.

“we all pick our jobs, but it’s the emperor who names us.” skekLao explains. “skekVar took an interest in war strategy, but the emperor could have named him anything. the lieutenant, the strategos, you get the idea. but if he were to fail to an extreme, the emperor could make him… the specialist. make sense?” taelin nods. “when a skeksis is finally given their title, there are steps that must be followed. a new wardrobe, a hierarchical placement, and quite a bit of boring castle work. the clans whose tithes you will help preside over, for example.” he frowns. “i’m explaining this poorly.”

“no, not at all!” taelin protests. “honestly, i’ve always wondered just how the castle works. we’re never taught about it.”

“well, most of these rituals are outdated. we don’t get new court members anymore.”

“you don’t have children?”

skekLao coughs. “what? no we--that’s not what we’re talking about!” taelin giggles as he composes himself. “the point is, these rituals don’t occur anymore so there’s no point in teaching the rest of you about it!”

“yes, fine, i understand!” taelin says, still laughing a bit. 

skekLao huffs and continues. “after your first big accomplishment in your chosen field, the emperor names you. he chooses it in private and then the castle is gathered to hear it. we all have to be in attendance.” which was always an ordeal trying to track down skekMal and skekSa. “it’s… well, it’s kind of boring. everyone does a few chants and you kneel in front of the emperor and he gives you your title and then… that’s who you are.” he seems disappointed with the description. 

“what is it?” taelin asks, tilting their head to the side. 

“i’d have to spend hours telling you so much more just for you to understand how important it is.” he admits. “...probably would have been easier if we could have dreamfasted.” he sighs.

“so… tell me anyway.” taelin says, shrugging. “what else do we have to do? it’s another day to our next stop and you like to talk while you work anyway.”

he smiles. “fair point. but first, you need to eat.” he stands, moving to the stove to clear it of its magnetic dishes. “you’ll fall right back asleep listening to me drone on if it’s on an empty stomach.”

**Author's Note:**

> check me out online!
> 
> http://atlesianic.tumblr.com  
> http://atlesianic.carrd.co


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